watching, reading, and writing stories

Alright, I admit it, I’m a sucker for kid’s movies. I’ve grown up watching Pixar classics and that animated real world just attracts me. I think the scenery is gorgeous and I love being able to step into this “perfect” world and enjoy a good story.

But the real reason that I enjoyed Frozen is because of its use of “love.”

I’ve seen countless movies, and read plenty of books that deal with the love story. Meeting a prince, falling head over heals, overcoming obstacles, and usually “true love’s first kiss” ends up saving the day. But Frozen takes a different spin on the word love.

In English we only have one word for this strong emotion, but really there are several types of love and they all can be very strong. There’s a parent’s love for their child, a sister’s love for a sister, a woman’s love for a man, and a friend’s love for another friend. All of these loves can make a sacrifice for another person. But usually we are made to believe that the love between a man and a woman is the greatest kind of love.

And as the movie begins, we might think that this is true in Frozen, we are soon pulled into a quick romance between the younger princess Anna, and her perfect prince Hans. Even as the movie progresses, we are encouraged to think that his love for her can be the solution to her problem.

Then we come to the plot twist, the perfect prince’s love was not real love, it is a selfish love, or lust really, that was only seeking power. So we turn our attention to Kristoff, the friend who has sacrificed so much to help Anna. Surely he can save Anna with his truer love.

But Frozen takes yet another twist and takes the definition of love even further. At the last second Anna abandons her hope of being rescued by her friend Kristoff and instead thrusts herself in front of her sister, to save her from the now villainous prince. Her sacrifice ends up saving her, and we can see that it doesn’t matter who the love is directed towards; a man, a sister, a friend, if it is true sacrificial love, then it can break any curse.

Throughout the movie, we are shown that genuine love is not the romanticized story of a girl and boy falling for each other, it’s about putting another person’s needs before your own, even if they don’t deserve it. This is real sacrificial love.

Both the trolls who sing about falling in love with a fixer upper and the snowman that suggests “some people are worth melting for,” show us that love is real when you stop focusing on yourself and what you want and put your focus on what’s best for the other person.

And that’s why I love Frozen, it gives us a truer look at what love is.